Names In The Sand
by duffbee
Summary: Rikku and Gippal have been apart for years. Now, by unfortunate circumstances, they find themselves brought together once more. Will memories from the past heal them? Or cause more trouble than they are worth? RxG -- may contain sexual content later.


**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Final Fantasy X-2, but if I could own Gippal, I would most definitely do so.** :]

**AN: Basically this story stems from a quick idea that wormed its way into my head, as I played through the 'Meeting Gippal' scenario at Djosé. We all know that RxG is practically canon, and I myself like to think that they were meant to be. It might have a slow start, but I promise you it will get better. :]**

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**_Ten Years Ago_**

The night was a cool one. The lack of cloud coverage and the presence of the stars and planets in the bright, moonlight sky signified the sheer change in temperature that the desert routinely went through every night. The breeze was slight, however, if one was to walk through this habitat without being climatised to it, then goose bumps would give away the cold that their skin and body experienced.

The giggles of two children filled the nights silence. Two close friends speaking in a language that no other than the people or their race would understand. Blonde. Tanned. Striking eyes. The two children could have passed for twins if one wasn't taller, and slightly older than the other. They were holding hands, marvelling at the stars that greeted them. The older one pointed out the constellations to his friend. His friend giggled and stared in awe at the shapes that would never have been recognised if they hadn't have been pointed out the her.

Eventually, they seemed to reach their destination. A small oasis, where they proceeded to play with the sand, making shapes with their hands which seemed to form animals, towers, castles and machine shapes with efficiency and ease. All the while giggling as if nothing could ever be wrong in the world. All thoughts of their race being outcast, the threat of a calamity supposedly angry with their home planet and its' population for its' use of machines, disappeared, and for one night, these close friends were invincible and carefree.

A snippet of a conversation is heard as the two children stand, and the older one takes the younger by the hand. He brings her over to a dry area of sand, finds a stick of some sort and proceeds to poke it into the fine grains.

"Here, let's tell the sand how we feel." The boy says to the girl, smiling brightly.

"Yes! Let's do it." The girl agrees, and takes the stick from him with a giggle.

"HEY! I was going to write it! I'm older and can write neater."

The boy's protests went unheard, as the girl had already finished her montage in the sand. A profession of childhood romance, or a profession of unbreakable friendship. The writing in the sand read;

'Rikku x Gippal'

**_Present Day_**

'I don't want to do this.' She didn't want to do this. 'I don't want to go there.' She didn't want to go there. 'And I definitely don't want to see him.' And she most definitely didn't want to see him. Rikku was on edge and in a foul mood after hearing Buddy's, almost always overly cheerful voice, declare that they would be visiting the temple at Djose. This was not a cheerful time for the young Al Bhed. Since when was the dredging up of old memories, old feelings and old hurt a cheerful time for anyone? If anything she felt like screaming to the high heavens, and if that failed, then show the others, who did not know how heavy her heart was feeling and how angrily her head began to throb, what it was like when sweet little Rikku really got upset. But what upset her most was her apparent inability to remain strong when it came to this. It annoyed her.

She didn't like the fact that when it came to emotional troubles and problems with other people she could not put on that carefree, happy and ADHD front anymore. And she was sickened, absolutely sickened that she was getting so upset over him of all people. After the initial breaking of his promise, she felt like she would be able to kill him the next time she saw him, let him feel the same amount of hurt that she felt at that moment in time. But since about four years had passed, and he hadn't had any contact with her at all (the fact that she knew that he was actually at the temple, was due to her fathers weekly updates of the happenings of the Al Bhed, not due to her own interest, Rikku realised just how much she might actually, Rikku shuddered, miss him.

'I do not!' She scolded herself, and stood up from the chair in which she was sat. Looking to her left, she saw Brother stare at her with a intense look. She hated that. Although Brothers English was as fluent as a dog's, he had a way of expressing his thoughts and feelings through his eyes in such a way that it scared the crap out of her. She knew, at that moment, he knew what she was angst about, and she hated it.

"What the hell are you looking at, you big loaf?" Rikku scowled at her brother, hands on hips, face forward.

"Don't worry about him, that is it." Brother replied and returned to looking towards the sky through the airships window.

Rikku gave a sigh of exasperation and stormed out of the room, almost barging into Yuna. This was the last straw, she couldn't take the tension anymore. The next words out of Yuna's mouth would actually cause her brain to explode with such a force that she herself couldn't comprehend.

"Rikku? Are you okay, I've never seen you look so…angry." Yuna asked tentatively.

Rikku, gave a small laugh, which quickly evolved into some sort of hysteria.

Yuna looked at Rikku with a baffled, almost scared look, and began to slowly edge away. She knew that there was only a few reasons why her Al Bhed cousin would go off on one of her intense, hysterical laughters. One was when they ever walked though the Thunder Plains. Considering she had finally over come her fear of thunder, this couldn't be the case. The second was when Rikku's father, Cid, was visiting them. Considering the fact that Rikku was slightly estranged from her father at this moment in time, Yuna knew that this too, was not the case. The final reason was anything to do with her past. And Yuna had no idea why a trip to Djose would trigger anything other than her fight with Sin two years ago (although Rikku always tried to change the subject when that was brought up as the thought of losing Yuna was too much to bear, and the loss of him was tough on them all.)

Yuna slowly put her hands onto her cousins shaking shoulders, and looked into her eyes.

"Rikku, what's wrong? You're scaring the crap out of me!"

Rikku shrugged Yuna's hands away, and began to calm down, eventually managed to speak.

"You'll see soon enough." And walked away into the lift, heading down towards the cabin.

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**AN: So, it was a pretty mediocre first chapter, but I promise it will pick up. :]**

**No flames, I will report you. But reviews are very much welcome. :3 Over and out, duffbee. x  
**


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